What went wrong with my water?

[tinybubbles]

Boy, I thought I had a handle on water chemistry.  Was I wrong.  Things had been going so perfectly until Sunday.  We usually soak every day but we didn't get a chance to soak Saturday, so no dichlor was added.  But, I have a N2 cartridge and an ozonator.  Went out Sunday am to soak and water was super cloudy.  I shocked with chlorine and it turned nasty, nasty green.  Not kinda green, but really green.  I drained and restarted, but I'd love to know if anyone has any idea what happened.  Should just one day of not adding dichlor cause that mess?  Up until Sunday my water was always crystal clear and never even had an odor.  My water was 2 1/2 months old.  My levels were always right on the money.  I soaked my filter in a bleach solution and rinsed it in the dishwasher the weekend before.  That's the only thing that I did differently recently.  Could my N2 cartridge be used up?  Could my ozonator have failed?  Thanks for any help.

[Spiderman]

Sometimes one day is all it takes if your FC is at a minimum.  Its happened to me before.  

[Cyn]

How old is your N2 cartridge?  I too have an ozonator and N2 and I am not able to soak every day.  I do add enough (and I check it without assuming because we have such a varied response that I haven't been able to just rely on 1 teaspoon or whatever to raise the FC to the same spot every time) dichlor to get a FC reading of between 3 and 5 after our use.  But I will go about 3 days between soaks without adding any chemicals and still have beautiful clear and sparkling water not matter whether I raised the FC to 3 or 5 after the last use.  I have even gone 4 days on 2 month old water without a problem.  I hope I continue to be lucky!!

[Repeat_Offender]

All the more reason to switch to bromine with a floater. Take 3-4-5 days off from using the spa and never worry about sanitizer level.

[tinybubbles]

That is wonderful about bromine, but I am allergic to it.  

Cyn, it is 2 months old, but someone told me they don't last as long when you dose daily with chlorine.  I have no idea if that's true.

Spidey (may I call you spidey?), my cya level was very high, so my chlorine was probably losing it's effectiveness.  

You just hear alot about N2 and ozone helping out.  I would have hoped that they could have gotten me through a day without dosing.  I'm assuming that older water is different.  When I first got my spa, we left for 5 days and came back to beautiful water.  

[SerjicalStrike]

All the more reason to switch to bromine with a floater. Take 3-4-5 days off from using the spa and never worry about sanitizer level.

If you set your floater to keep the bromine at a level for everyday use, and then don't use the tub for 3-4days, wouldn't that bromine level get really high?

[TubsAndCues]

My guess is your TA was a little low as well, which caused the green color.

As for the cloudiness, sometimes after shocking a pool or spa can become cloudy for a day even if the levels are perfect.  You may have jumped the gun on the drain, but if it happens again, give it more time.

[Cyn]

Spidey (may I call you spidey?), my cya level was very high, so my chlorine was probably losing it's effectiveness.  

Is that true about the CYA level and effectiveness of dichlor??  And what causes high levels of CYA?

[tinybubbles]

Everytime you add dichlor, you add cya.  My level was off the charts.  There is info. out there if you feel like googling it.  On another forum, they really push using liquid bleach after about 2 weeks.  Bleach doesn't add cya.  I'm still iffy on that.  If I get a chance I'll try to get you specifics about cya's effects on chlorine.  Most public health dept.'s warn against cya in spa water.  
I had no idea that TA levels could effect the color of the water.  Thanks for the info.  We had record breaking heat this weekend, so that's why I went ahead with the drain.  It's kinda scary seeing cloudy water for the first time.  Next time, should I have added a clarifier or was shocking the right thing to do?